Grenadier's Future Warriors 28mm: 19 Years On

Nearly 20 years ago (christ, it can't be that long ago), Grenadier released a line of cyberpunk/post apocalyptic miniatures under the Future Warriors name. The minis were sculpted by Mark Copplestone, who was known for having worked for GW. The sculpts (as all of Mark's work) were excellent, beautifully proportioned, clean, a filled a sorely underrepresented genre of miniatures: 28mm near future.

It didn't hurt that the troopers were dead ringers for Colonial Marines from Aliens (and were a damn sight better looking than the licensed minis from Leading Edge Games (which sucked frankly).

The line was commissioned to support the Future Warriors: Kill Zone rules published by Grenadier during those twilight years of the former miniature giant. Sadly Grenadier was already on borrowed time and these fantastic miniatures vanished when Grenadier folded in 1996.

Luckily in 1996 there was this expansion of something called "the internet" and within a few years this invention would reveal to me that the Grenadier minis were not lost to history. Both EM4 and Mirliton SG continue to produce the ex-Grenadier minis (under the names Future Skirmish and Cyber Wars respectively), with significant overlap but not complete duplication. Additionally Mark Copplestone re-sculpted most of the line and offers them on his site as the Future Wars line.

I buy from all three, and this morning I was greeted by a package from Ring-Tail, a hobby shop in Ōita Prefecture. A couple months back I discovered their mobile site and placed an order for seven Cyber Wars packs (three packs of scavengers, three of troopers, and a pack of dataterms). They took some time to arrive, as they were not in stock and had to be ordered from Italy. That said the price was reasonable and I didn't mind waiting.

Today I'm just going to introduce the scavenger figs that I got, there will be shown in more detail as I paint them, with the troopers and dataterms (as well as assorted other stuff that has arrived) getting posts of their own in the coming days.

The first of the three packs is Cyber Wars CW1501 "Scavengers." It is a five figure pack, basically a re-release of the original #1501 Scavengers pack from the Grenadier Future Warriors UK line. All of the figures are Mark Copplestone sculpts dating from about 1994. Four of the figures were later released in blisters of two stateside as #1501 Scavengers and #1513 Street Scum. I have not been able to determine if the fifth figure was also re-released in a two-fig blister. EM-4 also offers these miniatures as part of their Future Skirmish line (from left: #0046, #0043, #0042, #0044, & #0045).

The second pack is labeled "1504 Future Savage," but is Cyber Wars CW1504 "Rebels" (according to Mirliton's web catalog). Essentially a re-release of the #1504 "Rebels" pack from the from the Grenadier Future Warriors UK line. Sculpts by Mark Copplestone about 1994. As above, EM-4 also offers these miniatures as part of their Future Skirmish line (from left: #0076, #0075, #0078, #0069, & #0077).

Finally (for today) is the Cyber Wars CW1521 "Gentleman Scavenger" by Mirliton SG. Consists of one figure from the #1525 "Overlords" pack from the Grenadier Future Warriors line. Mark Copplestone sculpt from about 1994, and offered by EM-4 as #0041 in the Future Skirmish line.

Once I can get my hands on some decent paint, I hope to get these guys finished sooner rather than latter. That shouldn't be too long, I'm putting together an order for Volks as soon as the Golden Week holiday is finished. They don't carry the Game Color case, and it actually costs more than ordering the bottle individually, so I made a list approximating the contents of the Army Painter complete set using Game Color. People might ask why I just don't get the Army Painter set. Well, I have not found a vendor in Japan, I have experience and the highest regard for Vallejo paints, and I can get 40 pots delivered of Vallejo for less than the cost (without tax or shipping) of the 36-pot Warpaints set. Clearly Game Color is the way to go.